This invention relates to an oxygen head tent for covering of a persons head, and more particularly to a gas delivery hood assembly and hood ring for a head enclosing gas hood.
A wide variety of head enclosing gas hoods have been developed for use in delivery of gas, including oxygen, to the wearer. Such a delivery system may be desirable for directing clean air or other gases into the hood for breathing by the wearer. This function is also desirable in use as a hyperbaric oxygen treatment system wherein the patient may be exposed to increased barometric pressure inside the hood device. It may be desirable to have such a head enclosing gas hood wherein the hood is transparent so the wearer can see outside of the device and so that an adequate seal is provided between the wearer and the enclosing gas hood.
In many different instances, patients must have their entire head enclosed in an oxygen rich environment, the enclosing device similar to the hood disclosed herein. It is therefor desirable to have the transparent hood surrounding the patient head and also having an efficient assembly for connecting the hood with a neck ring and a neck seal forming a seal around the patient""s neck and allowing the hood area of the device to be filled with the treatment gas often times pressurized. It is therefor essential that an adequate seal be made between the hood and the hood ring retaining the hood as well as between the hood ring and the neck ring and neck seal.
Various hoods are disclosed in the prior art including U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,409, U.S. Pat. No. 4,620,538 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,728. In all of these prior art devices, various hood and neck ring assemblies are disclosed. However, in these designs, there is no teaching of a simplified sealing and connection system between the hood ring and the neck ring and neck seal. Some of these devices disclosed in the above-referenced patent have complex or difficult structure to ensure sealing between the neck ring and neck seal and also include structure which does not readily retain the proper pressure within the hood. It is also found in these prior art devices that after repeated wear on various surfaces of the devices, the seal between the hood and the hood ring may be corrupted. It is further noted that the prior art devices include complex or difficult attachment processes for affixing the neck seal to the neck ring or in assembly of the device. All of these shortcomings are resolved by the design of the head enclosing gas hood of the present invention
It is therefor an object of the present invention to provide a head enclosing gas hood wherein the hood is sealingly attached to a hood ring. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a neck ring wherein the hood ring is sealingly engaged with the neck ring and the neck ring further contains a neck seal which adequately seals around a patients neck.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a two-piece neck ring for attachment and retaining of the neck seal.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a neck seal which is attached to the neck ring and which does not require the end user to perform an assembly step and wherein the neck seal maybe securely retained within the two-piece neck ring upon shipment by the manufacturer.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a novel hood ring design wherein the attachment point between the hood and the hood ring is not located on a working and sealing surface between the hood ring and the neck ring.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a device port through the neck ring allowing monitoring devices to be inserted into the interior portion of the gas treatment hood of the head enclosing gas hood.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a two-piece neck ring wherein the upper and lower pieces of the neck ring may be pre-assembled and wherein the neck seal, in this pre-assembly step, is firmly retained in between the upper and lower neck rings.
These and other objects are resolved by the design of the head enclosing gas treatment hood of the present invention. The head enclosing gas treatment hood of the present invention is comprised of a hood which is affixed to a hood ring, the affixation point of the hood to the hood ring placed somewhere on the non-working surface of the hood ring. The hood ring slides over a neck ring in sealing engagement thereto. The neck ring of the present invention is a novel two-piece neck ring which has the neck seal compressed in between the upper neck ring and the lower neck ring in such a manner as to provide a sealing relationship to the interior of the hood and around the users head. The upper and lower neck ring have both a retaining O-ring and a sealing O-ring secured firmly therebetween both of which act to either retain the neck seal or firmly seal the upper and lower neck rings with the hood ring. The head enclosing gas hood of the present invention also includes a neck seal which, as discussed above, is retained between the upper neck ring and lower neck ring and which extends inwardly from the neck ring. The neck seal is made of a gas impermeable material and stretches around the users neck to seal the interior portion of the hood and allow the interior portion to be filled with the supplied gas.
One advantage of the present design is that the upper and lower neck ring may be assembled easily with the neck seal compressed therebetween. Thus, the prior art designs which require assembly of the neck ring by stretching or by retention in specially constructed rings is overcome with a simplified design which compresses the seal between the neck ring pieces.